Radio Iowa, IA
06-08-07
Many expected to watch as ISU grad flies into space
By Matt Kelley
Space ShuttleThe space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled for liftoff tonight at
6:38/Central time and one astronaut will have plenty of fans in Iowa watching his
flight. Clayton Anderson got his master's degree in aerospace engineering
from Iowa State University in 1983 and he'll be the first Cyclone ever to reach
orbit.
Kris Anderson, who's not related, runs the space sciences program at the
Science Center of Iowa, which is holding a Barbeque and Blastoff bash. The
launch will be projected live on the planetarium's 50-foot dome while the sound
effects of the launch will be routed into the subwoofers "so when the shuttle
blasts off, we really do get a realistic rumble there in the room."
Anderson hopes the kids who watch, hear and feel tonight's liftoff will get bitten
by the space bug and consider careers in science. Anderson says there's a big
push for science, technology and engineering education so NASA hopes
launches like this one will spur more young people to become a part of the space
program. He says competition is pretty tough to make it into the astronaut
program.
He says, "A lot of people just think of that aspect of it but there are mission
controllers, there are engineers, there are people that build the spacecraft, there
are computer programmers, so practically any kind of field you can imagine in the
normal workforce, you could end up doing with NASA as well." For more
information about tonight's Science Center 5-7 P.M. event in Des Moines, visit
www.sciowa.org.